On politics in the Golden State

After slow start, Gov. Jerry Brown ratchets up fundraising

January 31, 2012 | 2:22
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After taking most of 2011 off from the fundraising circuit, Gov. Jerry Brown is now focusing on raising the $30 million he says it will take to pass his initiative to raise taxes, which he hopes to place on the November ballot.

Brown, who raised less than $40,000 during a six-month stretch from April to late October last year, is now aggressively seeking campaign money from business, labor and Native American groups alike.

The governor has also been raising money for his 2014 reelection committee, but his spokesman, Steven Glazer, said that money was largely “a byproduct of fundraising for the ballot committee.”

Since December, Brown has raised nearly $2 million from a variety of business, tribal and labor interests. Among the largest donations are from groups that typically don’t ally themselves with Democrats, including $250,000 from Occidental Petroleum and $250,000 from the American Beverage Assn.

Glazer said that evidence of more contributions would become publicly available in the coming days, but declined to disclose who else had given to the initiative.

In new campaign filings covering contributions through the end of 2011, Brown on Tuesday reported an additional $5.5 million in two personal political campaign accounts. Most of that is left over from his 2010 campaign against Republican Meg Whitman.